Marjorie Adams
Marjorie Adams’ tireless efforts to spread the story of her great-grandfather, Doc Adams, enlightened and inspired many baseball fans. She conducted a Doc Adams Awareness Campaign to educate people on Doc’s role as a pioneer of our National Pastime and his importance to baseball’s survival and growth during its nascent period. Her goal was to see him recognized with long overdue enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Efforts will continue in her honor.
I had a lot of help. Back four years ago, a man by the name of John Thorn, who is the official historian for Major League Baseball, published a book by the name of “Baseball in the Garden of Eden.” And I looked in the fly leaf on the inside jacket, and the first name I saw there was Doc Adams. I couldn’t believe it. So I absorbed that book. I just drank it all in.
Marjorie Adams, Doc Adams: 19th Century Ballplayer, 21st Century Hall of Famer? (WBUR)
Events:
Nancy Adams Downey
Nancy Adams Downey, sister of the late Marjorie Adams and great-granddaughter of Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, helped her sister conduct a mission to raise awareness of her great-grandfather’s contributions to the early development of our National Pastime. This, with the hope of seeing him recognized with a plaque in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Upon her sister’s passing, she took a more active role, attending several events.
In 2021, Nancy was preceded in death by her younger sister Marjorie Adams, who spent years educating the world about their great-grand- father, Daniel “Doc” Adams, M.D., who wrote the Laws of Base Ball and presided over the 1857 convention which adopted his Laws, officially setting the number of players and innings at nine and the distance between bases at 90 feet. Nancy helped Marjorie in her quest to secure Doc’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Three months after Doc was two votes shy of the required 75% needed for induction, the original copy of Doc’s Laws sold for $3.2 million. The next generation will continue the quest for Doc’s induction.
Nancy Downey Obituary, New York Times, July. 16, 2025
Nancy’s full obituary can be read here.
Nancy participated in many events including the Coltsville Vintage Base Ball League’s Doc Adams Day, the Doc Adams Awareness Game held in Fleischmanns, NY, the Doc Adams Old Time Base Ball Festival held at the Old Bethpage Village Restoration, the Doc Adams Birthplace Classic held in Doc Adam’s hometown of Mont Vernon, NH, and the SABR Fred Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference.
She was embraced by the vintage baseball community who enjoyed her engaging presence at events honoring her pioneering great-grandfather.
